Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said that the government has recently revamped the operational guidelines for the Scheme and is mulling to set up a permanent office for its secretariat outside Singha Durbar, giving it more functional autonomy and innovative working hands. [break]
“The last cabinet meeting has decided to induct a vice-chairman and also provisioned the appointment of a chief executive director to steer the project meaningfully and foster the development of innovative schemes to develop youth entrepreneurs,” Pandey said.
Speaking at a function on the concluding day of the 44th annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Pandey said that he was mulling over introducing two new self-employment schemes for low income groups in the next fiscal year.
“We have already worked out different schemes for implementation in two different sets of districts including Kaski, Chitwan and Kavre, and Palpa, Rupandehi and Kailali respectively,” he said. He did not elaborate.
As of now, the government is implementing a scheme whereby it targets making 5,000 rickshaw pullers rickshaw owners in the three districts of Siraha, Saptari and Kailali. It has already extended financial support to 1,200 rickshaw pullers in Kailali so that they can own their own rickshaws.
“Apart from poverty reduction, we believe this program will help build a working culture and engage people constructively, thereby contributing in ending the conflict,” Pandey said.
However, despite all good intentions, Pandey admitted that the program was facing problems from the banks´ hesitancy in pledging soft and collateral-free loans. “The tendency of people not to repay their loans has also not helped,” said he.
On the occasion, FNCCI Vice-president Krishna Bahadur Tamrakar handed over a proposal on enhancing the quality of the program.
´Take Action´
The 44th annual general meeting of FNCCI on Saturday gave a mandate to the executive committee to take disciplinary action against members, including former FNCCI president Binod Chaudhary, for working against the interests of the federation.
Chaudhary, who is presently President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), recently led a drive aimed at placing CNI on an equal footing with FNCCI. In this connection, he had openly flayed FNCCI for not distributing fairly revenue collected from certificates of origin.
Citing Chaudhary´s statements, Bagmati Chambers of Commerce and Industry had lodged a complaint against him, seeking action. “We will look into the case against our former president and even seek clarifications, and we will reach a conclusion within a week,” said FNCCI Disciplinary Committee Chairman Rabi Bhakta Shrestha.
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